In a bandoliering operation, leaded components, such as tubular capacitors, are typically wound via a pair of laterally spaced tape carriers, for example, upon a take-up reel for temporary storage and/or transport. A paper separator is generally interposed between successive capacitor wraps. As thus wound, the outer tape carrier-secured ends of all of the axially disposed capacitor leads of the first wrap are normally bent toward and against a conventional core by an amount equal to 1/2 the diameter of the body portion of a given capacitor, when of cylindrical configuration.
At the start of the second wrap of such axially leaded capacitors, the leads are normally bent toward, and often against, a conventional reel core by an amount, which in the latter case, would equal 11/2 times the diameter of the body portion of each capacitor. When the leads are relatively fragile, such as when of 22 gauge copper clad steel, for example, the tape carrier-induced force exerted against the leads of the first few capacitors at the start of the first and second wraps, in particular, can readily result in permanent bends being formed therein.
Such detrimental lead bends are directly attributable to the effective core diameter being smallest at the start of the first wrap, and to the combination of a relatively small effective core diameter and a relatively large possible lead bend displacement at the start of the second wrap. Up to that point during a winding operation, the relatively flexible paper separator normally has no appreciable effect in limiting the tape carrier-imparted displacement of the capacitor leads.
Unfortunately, whenever permanent bends are formed in any of the capacitor leads during the bandoliered winding (or unwinding) thereof, a time-consuming lead-straightening operation must normally be performed on such leads prior to the affected capacitors (or any other similarly leaded components) being inserted into aligned thru-holes of a circuit board, for example. A lead-straightening operation on those capacitors having acquired permanent bends normally is imperative when the insertion operation is to be performed by an automatic component insertion machine.
After the first few leaded capacitors of the second wrap have been wound about a reel core, the remaining capacitors in the second and subsequent wraps normally do not present a serious problem with respect to being subjected to detrimental lead bending. This results because of both the considerably larger effective core diameter at that time, and the normal use of a continuous paper separator between adjacent wraps.
There has thus been a need for a storage reel of the type adapted for winding bandoliered leaded components thereon, wherein the reel core is constructed in a manner that would prevent any bending of the leads of a predetermined number of components at the start of the first wrap, when the effective diameter of the core is smallest, and the tape carrier-induced bending forces exerted on the component leads is greatest, and which core would also substantially reduce the maximum possible bending of the leads of a similar, but progressively increasing, number of components at the start of the second and subsequent wraps.